The hearing scheduled for last week to determine whether public employers can offer benefits to domestic partners has been postponed until August, and some university employees are worried about losing their benefits.
A Michigan Constitutional amendment was ratified in 2004, which defined marriage as being between a man and a woman.
The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, is representing 21 same-sex couples who filed the lawsuit in March after Attorney General Mike Cox interpreted the amendment as barring the city of Kalamazoo from providing domestic-partnership benefits in future contracts.
The court hearing was postponed in order for Gov. Jennifer Granholm to obtain separate legal counsel, Granholm's spokeswoman Liz Boyd said.
"The governor disagrees on the legal interpretation of the proposal from Mike Cox, so now she has demanded separate legal counsel," Boyd said.
Boyd also said no more will be said about the situation until Granholm's attorneys file legal papers with the Ingham County Circuit Court.
A spokesperson for Cox could not be reached for comment.
In the suit, the 21 couples, including MSU employees, have asked an Ingham County judge to rule that the ban does not stop government employers from giving benefits to same-sex partners and their children.
Michigan's ACLU Communications Director Wendy Wagenheim said the partners and their children will be left without medical coverage if the state wins the lawsuit.
She also said some benefits are temporarily being taken away.
"Benefits for those same-sex couples who currently work for the state have been withdrawn until this is resolved," she said.
Wagenheim said many people voted for Proposal 2 thinking it was only about marriage and not domestic-partner benefits.
MSU employee Gary Lindsay is one of the many represented in the suit.
MSU currently offers benefits to domestic couples who are not married, but Lindsay said those benefits are at risk if Cox wins.
"It is a distinct possibility that MSU employee benefits would be taken away if ruled in favor of Mike Cox," Lindsay said.
But Val Meyers, president of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender Faculty, Staff and Graduate Student Association said that all depends on the contract the employee is under.
"MSU has not taken a stance on this yet, but to my understanding, staff under employment contracts are good until 2007 and (the contracts) will continue to be valid," Meyers said.
"But if the state wins the suit, other staff members on yearly employment contracts or other arrangements would be affected immediately by the outcome."
She also said this will affect not only same-sex couples but all couples who live together and are not married.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
